Base Ten

Compelling and fiercely honest, "Base Ten" exposes the daily battles of women scientists fighting to preserve a family life and succeed in a discipline that functions on the archaic belief that every scientist has a 'wife' at home. Based on the real lives of the distinguished scientists Sandra Moore Faber and Vera Rubin, this striking novel vividly captures the struggles of women in science.Reared to believe that she could do anything, astrophysicist Jillian Greer dreamed of going into space. When she and her research partner, Kera, invented a specialised telescope, it looked as though these two dogged scientists would fulfil the dream they shared. Until Jillian met Jack, a handsome and ambitious young doctor that would prove to be more than a distraction. Ten years later, as Kera trains in a space simulator, Jillian is packing lunches and helping her kids with homework. As her fortieth birthday (the unofficial age limit of the space program) draws near, Jillian decides that things have to change. Leaving her family for ten days, one day for each year she has put her career on hold, of solitude in the sand dunes of Lake Michigan, Jillian struggles to see if she can find her way back to the stars.